DECREE REGARDING MARRIAGE

January 28, 1931

[This is the full text of a decree of the First session of the
Central
executive committee of the Chinese Soviet Republic, entitled
Provisional
Marriage Regulations.]

Under feudal domination, marriage is a barbaric and inhuman Institution.
The oppression and suffering borne by women is far greater than that of
man.
Only the victory of the workers' and peasants' revolution, followed by
the
first step toward the economic emancipation of men and women, brings
with
it a change in the marriage relationship and makes it free. In the
Soviet
districts, marriages now are contracted on a free basis. Free choice
must
be the basic principle of every marriage. The whole feudal system of
marriage,
including the power of parents to arrange marriage for their children,
to
exercise compulsion, and all purchase and sale in marriage contracts
shall
henceforth be abolished.

Although women have obtained freedom from the feudal yoke, they are
still
labouring under tremendous physical handicaps (for example the binding
of
the feet) and have not obtained complete economic independence.
Therefore
on questions concerning divorce, it becomes necessary to protect the
interests
of women and place the greater part of the obligations and
responsibilities
entailed by divorce upon men.

Children are the masters of the new society. Under the old system little
attention was paid to children. Consequently special regulations have
been
established concerning the protection of children.

These present regulations are hereby made public and shall enter into
force
as of 1 December 1931.